Get Going: Accelerometer-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Frail Older Adults

The transition from hospital to home is critical for older patients after a cardiovascular hospitalization, since 1 in 3 will suffer the fate of functional decline or repeat hospitalizations within the first 30 days. This has a tremendous impact on the patient, leading to a vicious cycle of worsening health status and disability, and the healthcare system, leading to an estimated $12 billion of preventable costs. At the policy level, preventing readmissions has become a national priority at the forefront of the medical agenda. Frailty, a geriatric syndrome characterized by subclinical impairments in multiple organs and decreased physiologic resiliency, is a major risk factor for unsuccessful transitions of care and adverse health outcomes. Thus, it has been suggested that interventions aimed at improving transitions of care should target frail patients. Frail individuals demonstrate a well-defined phenotype of muscle weakness and physical inactivity, readily measurable using various scales and instruments. To date, the most widely studied intervention to improve frailty and related outcomes has been physical activity. However, fewer than 50% of patients adhere to regular physical activity programs. Enrollment in cardiac rehabilitation programs is even lower owing to multiple barriers, including lack of payer reimbursement ≤ 30 days after a hospitalization, the highest risk period for readmissions. Scientific statements have called for augmented "self-care" to assure adequate physical activity in patients with heart failure and other forms of cardiovascular disease 10. Moreover, low-intensity home-based physical activity programs can be as efficacious as higher-intensity center-based programs, strengthening the rationale for self-care. The advent of small, portable, inexpensive accelerometer devices has emerged as a powerful tool to facilitate self-monitored physical activity. These devices are worn by patients and provide real-time feedback about the number of steps walked each day (as well as other functional parameters). This is in tune with a systematic review which found that feedback and goal setting improved adherence to physical activity in patients with heart failure. A few studies in the physical therapist literature have used accelerometers to demonstrate low baseline physical activity and boost total step counts in patients attending cardiac rehabilitation, but these patients were at least 30 days removed from their index hospitalization, and none enrolled patients in the critical post-discharge phase. Research question: Is a portable actigraphy-based intervention more effective than standard-of-care in promoting physical activity in the first 30 days after hospital discharge among frail older adults with cardiovascular disease?